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In an interview with MTV News, writer/director Frank Darabont, fresh off shooting upcoming horror flick The Mist, briefly discusses the indignities of even an A-list screenwriting life, revealing how helming a second-tier Stephen King adaptation is preferable to the powerlessness of being subject to the whims of megalomaniacal producers with total script approval:

MTV: Would you say one of those bad [writing] experiences is the time you spent writing the aborted "Indiana Jones 4" script?

Darabont: "Indy" is definitely in that category, topping the list. It showed me how badly things can go. I spent a year of very determined effort on something I was very excited about, working very closely with Steven Spielberg and coming up with a result that I and he felt was terrific. He wanted to direct it as his next movie, and then suddenly the whole thing goes down in flames because George Lucas doesn't like the script.

MTV: Did you ever speak to George Lucas directly?

Darabont: Yes! I told him he was crazy. I said, "You have a fantastic script. I think you're insane, George." You can say things like that to George, and he doesn't even blink. He's one of the most stubborn men I know.

MTV: Do you know if any remnant of that story lives in the one they're about to start filming?

Darabont: I have no idea if there's a shred of it left. It was a tremendous disappointment and a waste of a year.

One can hardly blame Darabont for sounding a little bit bitter about Lucas' unilateral rejection of his screenplay; after spending a year collaborating with Spielberg on a script worthy of finally reviving the long-dormant franchise, all the while under the tremendous pressure of racing the project forward before their rapidly aging leading man's bones became too brittle to convincingly crack a whip, it must have been an utterly ego-obliterating blow to have the insane Lucas dismiss his hard work with a disapproving, wattle-displacing shake of his head, no matter how well he may have been paid for his wasted effort.